Teaching in Beijing

[arnar]

Hi

I'm newly registered here but I've been reading a lot of the discussions in here.

I'm hoping to go to China and get a job teaching English there, preferably in Beijing. What are my best options? I've already got a place in a 4-week CELTA course at LanguageLink. Should I take it? Has anybody been to their course? Will it be easy for me to get a job after finishing it?

I am hoping to get home for Christmas (20th December - beginning of January maybe) and work from January until end of June or July. Will that affect my chance of getting jobs?

I am a non-native but fluent English speaker from Iceland. I am 20 years old and just finished grammar school.

Do you have any recommendations regarding which schools to work for, where to apply, which courses to attend or just anything that could help me? Everything is helpful.

[tony1343]

I can't answer your question, but I have one.

In my very limited experience with people from Iceland, their english tends to be about as close to native as you can get without it actually being your first language. One person told me it was because a lot of their tv was American.

Is this typical or was that the exception.

I did a quick search on the internet and some British guy was complaining that Icelanders have a horrible American accent in a different forum. I find that amusing being from the America (or the States as the rest of the world apparently says but nobody in the U.S. actually does).

Good luck.

[liuzhou]

Are you trying to say that real Americans describe themselves as being from "the America" rather than from The States?

All my American friends say they are from the States.

[gato]

No American I can know calls the U.S. "America" in daily conversation. It's usually referred to as either the U.S. or the States. "America" sounds a bit grandiose. Adding a "the" in front would be wrong.

[tony1343]

This is off topic now, but oh well. I don't think we think we are from "the America." We understand that there are other countries in the Americas.

However, we call ourselves Americans and we tend to say we are from either the U.S. or America. When we say we are from America we are typically referring to the United States of America. I know that people from Mexico and Canada get mad at this, because they are in America too, North America. But in my experience Americans (from the U.S.) just don't use it that way. We only refer to ourselves as our nationality and not from what continent we are from. I would never hear someone from the U.S. say they are a North American.

I'd be curious where you are from Gato when you say that. I never hear people say they are from "the States", when they are actually in the United States. I am from St. Louis, MO, live in Nashville, TN and have friends at college from across the country from Florida to New York to Ohio to California, etc.

People from the U.S. do tend to say "the States" when traveling overseas, especially in Europe. But I think the reason for this is that everyone over there says the "the States." If you met a Brit or an Aussie, they say "the States." In the U.S. we say we are "Americans" and are from "America", "the U.S.," or "the U.S.A." I've had this conversation with friends, and they seem to agree with me.

Going back over my post I did say that I was from "the America." That was a typo. No American would say that. So to correct that, I am from the United States of America.

[arnar]

Well I don't know about the US accent, but we are used to watch a lot of American tv and movies. Iceland is often a testing market for American movies, so we see many of them before they are released in the rest of Europe. Listening to the American accent may influence the way we talk. If I hear someone talk English, I know instantly whether he's Icelandic or not. I at least can't hear that American accent.

[gamequeen]

anyway, go back to topic., guys~~~

i think there is no problem if you want to try that chance in Beijing ,

just keep patient and you CAN find one, i believe.

but there is only one thing you need to pay attention :

lots of people from different counties who can speaking English they almost have the same purpose in Beijing like you ... ...

so , good luck, man .

i don't think your holiday planning will affected the opportunities of job.. .